A debate is raging in Israel over values, religion and individual rights. The 8 year old daughter of American immigrants, who are observant modern Orthodox Jews, said she was afraid to walk to her religious school anymore after she was spit at and insulted by ultra-Orthodox men. They called her a prostitute because her clothes didn't meet their standards for modesty. It's just one incident. Women are being intimidated, forced to sit in the back of buses, heckled for the way they dress.

It's a turning point for Israel - forcing the country to face the conflict between individual freedom and religious extremism. Rabbi Dov Linzer, an Orthodox rabbi who is the dean of a rabbinical school in the Bronx, wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times saying that it's time to stop using scripture as an excuse to avoid personal responsibility.

10:05 Rabbi Linzer Barnett

Rabbi Dov Linzer is the dean of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in the Bronx.

Coming up, an introduction to a town that is ground zero in the climate change debate, and an update from an Alaskan transplant facing her first winter in Juneau.

If you missed part of this show or want to hear it again, visit the 51% archives at wamc.org. This week's show is #1178.

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The effect of global climate change in the little town of Shishmaref Alaska is dramatic - perhaps nowhere else in the world has been so immediately impacted. The sea ice that protects the town from storm surges on its island has melted and the permafrost on which the town is built is melting the shore has been receding at a rate of up to 10 feet a year. The entire town is planning to move.

In 2009 three high school students from Shishmaref went to the Alaska model UN in Anchorage to talk about climate change. Young journalists Nithya Thiru and Nikki Navio filed this report.

5:40 Climate Change PRX

Currently the town of Shishmaref is planning its move from the disappearing island to the mainland.

Finally, writer Susan Dyer has an update on her first winter in Juneau, Alaska, where she's discovering Alpen Light and a new life.

4:18 Alaska Diary Dyer

Susan Dyer is a writer, teacher and radio host. She lives in Juneau, Alaska.

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That's our show for this week. Thanks to Katie Britton for production assistance. Our theme music is by Kevin Bartlett.

If you'd like to hear this show again, or visit the 51% archives, go to our website at WAMC.org. You can also find a regular column related to 51% at feminist.com.

Thanks so much for joining us we'll be back next week with another edition of 51% The Women's Perspective.